


lay with me, i'll lay with you

by tinydragon (tiny_dragon)



Series: every moon and blinking sun [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, but i recommend it because ace ventura is sick, you do not have to have watched ace ventura to read this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-11-10 04:16:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11119737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_dragon/pseuds/tinydragon
Summary: Will likes Nico, two boys make each other blush, and Nico does not know who Ace Ventura is.





	1. lay with me, i'll lay with you

**Author's Note:**

> alternatively titled, 'the author cannot write long fics anymore but have a thing that might be cute'

“You like me?”

Nico stares at Will, a little incredulous. Eyes wide and white like milk bottles. Will, in contrast, has flames taking up residence across his cheeks. He’s pink, flushed, and lets his curls tumble over his face as he retreats on his words.

“No, I mean, um - I meant…” his voice trails off, and he awkwardly raises his arms up to squeeze his shoulders. “Yeah, okay, fine. I like you.”

Literally, Nico’s jaw drops a little. Figuratively, it plummets to the underworld. It’s like bats take the opportunity to fly straight into his mouth and he realises he’s not entirely sure how to deal with this.

“Okay,” he says. “I mean, as a friend, or? Because we are friends, right?”

He is vaguely aware that his voice has raised a couple of pitches, and he probably sounds like a 50s housewife in distress. Kid can handle shadow-travelling a statue halfway across the world and near vanishing with the ghosts himself, but human emotion? Yikes. No thank you.

“Uh, yeah,” Will says. “Friends.”

“Okay,” Nico says.

“Cool,” Will mutters. His face is still flushed flamingo pink though, and after a minute he drops his hands, and says, “no, actually, that’s not what I meant.”

Nico blinks. One, two. Pause. “What did you mean, then?”

“Please don’t make me spell it out,” Will groans, but Nico doesn’t say anything. He looks at Will, expectantly, and Will realises that as astronomically bad he is at this, Nico is probably even worse. He takes a breath. “So I’m only gonna tell you this because otherwise I literally never will, and Kayla and Austin will kill me and also Percy will keep sending me suggestive looks whenever I sit next to you at breakfast. And let me tell you, it’s really starting to creep me out.”

“Percy does that?” Nico’s face flushes too, now. 

“Uh, yeah,” Will says. “So, that’s why I’m telling you, anyway. And I’m just gonna do it and if it’s not cool then that’s - well, not really cool, but I get it and it’s fine. And you can go back to kicking my ass at Capture the Flag - and by the way, it’s so not fair that the Big Three are in one team, I’m taking it up with Chiron…”

“Solace,” Nico cuts in. He’s less flustered now, and more frustrated by the fact that it feels as if it has been 3-5 working days since Will accidentally blurted out “I like you”, mid argument about Nico’s health.

Which, by the way, were totally not valid. Nico is in a fine shape. He swears.

“Get on with it,” Nico says, a little tiredly.

“Oh, right,” Will fiddles with his thumbs for a moment, and then takes a breath. “I really like you. As a friend, sure, but also as in more than a friend. As in, uh - watch Insidious with me and then hold my hand during all the creepy bits like you. If you catch my drift.”

“What’s Insidious?”

“A horrifying horror movie. I don’t really like horror movies. But I’ve got all three Ace Ventura movies, and they’re not scary but we could still hold hands in the really tense scenes. If you like.”

“Oh,” Nico says. He doesn’t ask what in the name of sweet Zeus Ace Ventura is this time.

“Yeah,” Will mumbles. “That kind of like you.”

“I like you too,” Nico tells him. Shy is not a word usually associated with the son of Hades, Mr Doom and Gloom, the master of intimidation. But his words come out shyly, and he’s got a little smile etched on his lips, and his hair falls just a bit over his face.

Will gapes. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Nico says. “I didn’t wanna say anything if I wasn’t, you know, sure. I didn’t freak you out.”

“The only thing that freaks me out is Insidious,” Will tells him.

“Noted. Maybe we should watch it together?” Nico’s skin flares a little as he speaks, but the way that Will is looking at him with wide skyscraper eyes tells him to push past it, and continue speaking. “I can, you know, hold your hand during the scary bits.”

“Like a date?” Will squeaks.

“Yeah, like a date.”

Then, Will grins. Lights up his entire face, eyes shining cornflower blue, and Nico, a little dazed, thinks _Gods, this kid is way too pretty_.

“Sounds good,” Will says, and on a whim he reaches out and entwines Nico’s fingers (cold, pale, the blue ocean beneath the sky of his sunlight) with his own. “Although, personally, I’d still vote Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.”

This time, Nico can’t stop himself from asking what the actual freaking hell that even is. 


	2. we'll do the things that lovers do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which some boys continue to be dumb and a first kiss is had.

As it turns out, they choose not to watch Insidious for their first date. This is because after his cheeks have paled back to a less alarming colour, and his heart has stopped rattling in his ribcage, Will confesses that horror movies tend to have a poor effect on him.

“I would probably end up, like, passing out on you,” Will admits.

Nico thinks this doesn’t sound too bad.

“Or throwing up on your shoes. Gods. I’d scream down Camp and the harpies would literally have me for breakfast.”

And yeah, okay, maybe not.

They don’t really have a First Date, then. It’s more like they have a series of tiny moments. The next day, Will sits at the Hades table with a huge grin until Chiron lets out a long-suffering sigh and tiredly instructs him to re-join his siblings. Will does this, but not before winking and muttering, “don’t worry, I’ve got a plan. It involves a doctor’s consult.”

His words, more than anything else, are what would make Nico inclined to worry.

And there are numerous hours at the infirmary, where Will really doesn’t need any help but he kind of enjoys helping out. Passing over tools and glaring at any patients who don’t seem to be telling Will the whole truth.

“I feel like I’m on an episode of House,” Will tells him. “Though you’d definitely be House. Old misanthrope and all.”

“I’ve never watched House,” Nico tells him – is this kid ever going to realise that being frozen in time for 70 years kind of puts you behind on popular television? But regardless, Will is horrified, and Nico is eventually dragged into his own cabin where Will insists they marathon the first season whilst sitting on his bed.

Sitting on his bed. Together. A problem is that neither of them have mentioned the whole ‘I like you and you like me’ thing since it happened a few days ago, and it means that Nico really doesn’t have much of a clue of where to go from here.

“Okay, fair enough,” Nico admits after episode three. “I guess I’m kind of like this guy.”

“Told you,” Will grins. “You’re much cuter, though.”

This is okay. Nico’s cheeks are steadily growing to be the colour of an alert fire engine, or perhaps the state of the earth if the entire sun exploded. But this is totally fine.

“Right,” he says. Coughs a little. “Um, thanks.”

“No problem,” Will says. Swings his legs around happily. “I’d choose you over a solid 90% of fictional characters, and that should be a real compliment.”

“I feel honoured,” Nico says, a little dryly. “So who are the 10%?”

“A little jealous?” Will teases.

He shrugs. “Isn’t it best to weigh up the competition?” and Will’s smile is bigger than the Big House. Which, like the name suggests, is pretty big.

“Peter Parker, ten out of ten. And maybe Draco Malfoy. Kid isn’t a nice guy, but I have a thing for the broody types.”

Nico raises his eyebrows. “Okay, you definitely like me.”

“Didn’t we establish this last week?”

“Yeah,” he admits. “But you’re all… you’re being all… you know?”

“Um, flirty?

What Nico really wants to know is how he has the courage to do this. Surely it must be mildly terrifying – Nico can’t even get his hand close to Will’s yet without a whole world of nerves washing down upon him and making him feel all icy inside.

This kid  _likes_ him. Will Solace, all bright gold and starry eyes.

“Yeah,” Nico says, shyly. “And I’m just…”

“If it makes you uncomfy, I’ll stop. Just say the word.”

“No! It doesn’t. I promise. I just don’t know where it comes from. You were all shy before.”

Will’s cheeks are a little flushed, and he reaches his arm out to rub his neck.

“Well,” he says slowly. “You said that you liked me, right? And if you like me, well, it makes it less scary. And it’s cute seeing you blush. And also, I feel like if I don’t try, we’ll never get anywhere and I think that’s really suck because, in case I haven’t made it clear, I like you quite a bit.”

Nico looks at him for a few seconds. Stares at him with black eyes and thinks that this is it, this is a big moment, and this guy is looking at him in a way he thought no one ever would. In a way that no one ever could, when all these things still tumbled around in his head, hesitant to accept that a boy could ever love a boy.

But nothing about Will Solace feels wrong. Amongst years of chaos and unrest and unbelonging, he’s one of the things that have felt the most right.

So Nico tilts his head for a minute, and closes his eyes and then, in a total rush, he reaches up and presses a kiss to Will’s cheek. It’s soft, small, lasts just a few seconds. But Will’s skin is warm and soft and gentle, and when Nico pulls himself back, Will’s eyes are big and wide, round like milk saucers.

He’s smiling.

“You kissed me,” he says. He’s grinning.

“Uh huh,” Nico is a little dazed. “I guess I did.”

“You guess?”

“I did. I kissed you. Was that okay?”

Will nods, and the blonde curls that sit on top of his head like a crown bounce around in his certainty.

“More than okay,” Will tells him. “In fact, I, Will Solace, hereby proclaim that you can kiss any part of my face any time you want.”

“Any part of your face?” Nico snorts. “Smooth, I don’t know what you’re referring to at all.”

“Hey,” Will says. “Face kisses are great. Who needs lips? I’m all about the forehead, the nose, the temple, that little space between eyebrows – oh…”

And Will breaks off because Nico is tired of hearing facial features listed out, and different places where he could place his lips for a flutter of a second. Because Will’s cheeks were warm and soft and nice to touch, but his mouth is right there and it feels like A Moment.

It feels Right.

And so Will’s dumb list breaks away on his lips, and he’s kissing Nico back, softly, hesitantly, as the day’s last dregs of sunlight stream in through the cabin window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, more of my fic can be found on my tumblr willsolaced and u can also talk to me about things! if you so desire

**Author's Note:**

> i am on tumblr at willsolaced if you'd like to request a story. also please leave me comments so i can cry into my cup of tea, but in a good way


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